The Wolverine: Hugh Jackman Reveals Timeline

While Hugh Jackman is riding high from the solid holiday numbers for Les Misérables, it turns out the actor has recently revealed an important detail about the return of his signature character. (And no, I'm not talking about Van Helsing.)

In an interview with Parade magazine, Jackman let loose some details about The Wolverine, his return next summer as Marvel's adamantium-aligned ass-beater. Apparently, everything we thought we knew about where the film fits in the timeline of the X-Men franchise was wrong. According to the star, The Wolverine will actually take place AFTER the events of 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. (You know, the one where a lot of important characters met lame, anticlimactic deaths? Yeah...)

As a result, The Wolverine is apparently not a prequel-sequel to the 2009 prequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but is, in actuality, a spinoff sequel to the 2000-2006 X-Men trilogy. -- Does that make sense?

Check out what Jackman had to say about the matter below, as well as his hint of a cameo from another X-Men member.

As Jackman tells Parade:

"You want to get me into trouble, don’t you? [laughs] Okay, the movie takes place after X-Men: The Last Stand. My character is at his lowest. He is supposed to be able to heal himself, but he may encounter someone who has worked out a way to really hurt him."

Leaving us wondering after casually dropping some major news, the actor then teases:

"And there is a cameo from one of the past X-Men in it."

This actually puts the film chronicling Wolverine's famous escape to Japan into a completely new context. While we used to see it as a film where Wolverine was finding his way early on in his "post-amnesia" era, it seems it's more about his coming to terms with the split from the X-Men team and the (apparent) death of Jean Grey.

The cameo could be anyone. However, since Famke Janssen has long been rumored for a cameo in this film, a potential appearance could serve as the proper connector to the X-Men trilogy and possibly set things up to where the series goes when Wolverine returns yet again in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014.

Since the success of Marvel Studios' Avengers-related films, 20th Century Fox has been looking to corral their own brand of canon-connected superhero franchises. The Wolverine might just serve as the first attempt to clean up the murky mess left behind by the story inconsistencies and ill-advised deaths in The Last Stand.

The Wolverine prepares to get bigger in Japan than Alphaville ever did on July 26, 2013.